Best Embroidery Machines For Beginners 2016 – Under $600

Honest and impartial list of 8 best beginner embroidery machines you can get in US for under $600. I won’t say these machines are without limitations, but they are the best of the lot.

Hello readers, how is it going? Today I am going to give you a list of best beginner embroidery machines you can get for under $600 in US. There are a lot of horrible embroidery machines in the market. Even leading manufacturers make crap machines. So you need to choose wisely. I have deliberately kept this list under $600, as that would be the most a beginner would ideally spend for an embroidery machine. Honestly, I am not a big fan of investing a lot on beginner machines, as you are just trying to get a taste of things. Moreover, today’s beginner machines are so feature packed that you won’t even need those $1000 embroidery machines unless you run a large scale business.

This is 2016 and things have changed quite a bit from last year. A lot of new embroidery machines were released this year. Many promised a lot but most didn’t impress sewers. Unfortunately this is the trend in the sewing machine industry ever since the demise of the ‘Classic Singer Era’. 8 out of 10 machines released every year, by all manufacturers fail to impress. It is only those 2 machines that survive and account for majority of the sales. 2016 list of best beginner embroidery machines also has couple of new entrants. Those machines are not released this year, but they improved their ranking this year to enter the top 8 list. Let us have a look at the list

1. Brother SE425 (Sewing & Embroidery Combo)

First things first, Brother SE425 might be the best embroidery machine for beginners, but consider it only if it is priced lower than Brother SE400, which is the next machine in this list. The reason I am saying this is because, both machines are identical. The difference is that you will get a couple of extra accessories with SE425. You can read more about the difference between SE425 and SE400 HERE. The features of SE425 are the same as SE400, so I am not specifying them here, you can read them in next section.

2. Brother SE400 (Sewing & Embroidery Combo)

Brother SE400 is simply the best beginner embroidery machine you can get in US. It has remained on top of the list for more than 4 years and in 2016 it lost its place to SE425 only by virtue of a cheaper price, which will fluctuate in coming months. The 2nd place is only because of the current prices, it will jump to No.1 spot as soon as price drops. SE400 is a future proof machine literally. It came with features like automatic thread cutter and programmable needle up/down button at a time when those features were only available in $1000 machines. When it was launched, SE400 was at least 5 years ahead of competition, which was a major factor for its success.

Like SE425, SE400 is also a sewing and embroidery combo machine, which means you can use it as an embroidery machine and as a regular sewing machine. There is no need to purchase a regular sewing machine.

Forget the features, the best thing about SE400 is its stitch quality. There is no point in having a lot of features, if the machine doesn’t stitch well. This is where SE400 is different. The machine can handle different types of fabric with ease. The stitches are nice and consistent. It is also one of the easiest machines to thread. SE400 is one of the most user-friendly embroidery machines you can get. Another great thing about Brother SE400 is that, it has USB connectivity. So you can import unlimited number of embroidery designs from iBroidery.com. I will recommend this machine all day. It is also the most affordable of all the machines. It even features in our list of ‘Machines You Can Buy With Your Eyes Shut’.

Features

Built-in 70 embroidery designs and 67 sewing stitches

4″x4″ embroidery area

Programmable needle up/down

Automatic needle threader

Automatic thread cutter

LCD touch screen

USB connectivity

5 lettering fonts

1 hoop, 4″x4″

Cons: The only disadvantage is that the embroidery area of Brother SE400 is just 4″x4″. This makes it difficult to accommodate very large projects. Otherwise, this is a flawless machine.

If you are looking for a quality embroidery only machine with bigger embroidery area, then Brother PE770 is the best one. The quality of stitches are as good as those $1000 ones. One factor that made this machine popular among beginners is the 5″x7″ embroidery area, which can accommodate large projects quite easily. There is USB connectivity and embroidery card slot for importing designs. The price is under $600, which is reasonable for the features and quality on offer.

Features

Built-in 136 embroidery designs

5″x7″ embroidery area

Programmable needle up/down

Automatic needle threader

Automatic thread cutter

LCD touch screen

USB connectivity & embroidery card slot

6 lettering fonts

1 hoop, 5″x7″

Cons: Nothing much. If you want to be too critical, you can say that the LCD display is just black and white.

This is another feature tie. Brother DZ820E is the same as Brother PE770 except for the accessories and color scheme. DZ820E being a Designio series machine, comes with a bundle of extra accessories including 2 extra hoops. The extra embroidery kit which comes with DZ820E comes with a lot of goodies. So choose DZ820E if the price is similar to that of PE770. PE770 only becomes worth, if it is priced much lower than DZ820E. You can read more about the differences HERE. Then you might ask why I ranked DZ820E lower than PE770. The reason is because, right now DZ820E is priced much higher than PE770, which makes it less appealing. DZ820E becomes a steal once the price comes down.

LB6800PRW is a quality embroidery machine for beginners, but the fact is that, this machine is the same as Brother SE400 which we discussed earlier. The difference is that LB6800PRW comes with a Project Runway branding and couple of extra accessories. You can learn more about the differences HERE.

Like Brother SE425, PE540D is also a new entrant in this top 8 list. If you take the regular sewing functions out of Brother SE400 and add 35 disney embroidery designs, you will get PE540D. The machine is as good as the ever popular Brother SE400 but without the regular sewing functions. Brother PE540D is an embroidery only machine for beginners. The stitch quality and performance is identical to SE400, so you can’t complain on that part. The Disney designs, that make this machine unique is also very good. They look beautiful once finished. ‘D’ in the model number stands for Disney. Like its predecessors, PE540D also comes with USB connectivity.

Features

Built-in 105 embroidery designs

4″x4″ embroidery area

Programmable needle up/down

Automatic needle threader

Automatic thread cutter

LCD touch screen

USB connectivity

5 lettering fonts

1 hoop, 4″x4″

Cons: User manual is not that great. Like SE400, the small embroidery area may not please all.

If you ask me which is the best Singer embroidery machine for beginners, I will answer Singer S10. The machine offers the largest embroidery area for the price. The maximum embroidery area is 5.5″x5.5″. Singer S10 replaced Singer XL-400 in 2016 for the 7th rank, thanks to its quality. The machine has good stitch quality. The machine has USB connectivity and built-in memory.

Features

Built-in 55 embroidery designs

5.5″x5.5″ embroidery area

Automatic needle threader

LCD screen

USB connectivity

3 lettering fonts

2 hoops, 5.5″x5.5″ and 2″x2″

Cons: Misses out on features like automatic thread cutter, programmable needle up/down etc.

Futura XL-400 is another Singer sewing and embroidery combo machine to consider. Even though it’s stitches aren’t as good as S10’s, it still is a quality embroidery machine for beginners. You can even create your own embroidery designs using the software. This is a sewing and embroidery combo machine with a large embroidery area of 10″x6″, which makes it the largest hoop machine in this list. It even has multihooping ability, which means you can embroider designs up to 18.5″x11″. No other embroidery machine at this price range offers this facility. Futura XL-400 is suitable for beginners as well as advanced sewers.

Features

Built-in 125 embroidery designs and 30 sewing stitches

10″x6″ embroidery area with multihooping

Programmable needle up/down

Automatic needle threader

USB connectivity

5 lettering fonts

2 hoops

Cons: Auto punch software is not included, it needs to be bought separately. This handicaps major editing features. The machine is slightly louder than other machines. There is no automatic thread cutter as well.